MORE REASONS TO SAVE BLACKWOOD

The already notorious road to be built through St David's Wood in Blackwood, Wales, and the double bypass which is due to bisect the small and peaceful valley, are due to serve an extraordinary purpose. Locals and campaigners have already reported on the fact that the MoD are involved. Corporate Watch feels it is important to highlight that behind this mass destruction are two corporations already known for being among the most destructive on the planet. On one side of the road will be General Electric - chief war profiteer and manufacturer of jet engines. While on the other side, on the estate in Oakwood - is General Dynamics. General Dynamics manufacture, among other things, the charmingly named "Advanced Precision Kill Weapon Systems" as well as battle tanks, assault vehicles, nuclear submarines and destroyers.

In fact, the General Dynamics UK site boasts of delivering "world class C4ISTAR capability vital to customer needs". Officially, C4ISTAR stands for Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance. When asked what, precisely, the branch in Wales would be making, an employee replied that he "wasn't allowed to say".

Forcing people in areas of low employment into manufacturing weapons of destruction is nothing new, of course, but one wonders how the promised local jobs (which range from hundreds to thousands, depending on the degree of hyperbole) will affect the unskilled teenagers and out of work miners so desperately in need of useful employment.